I saw continued positive progress and feel like these 10 weeks have really been worth it. I’ve had ups and downs. I still have a really funny looking cuticle on my right pointer finger – but all in all my cuticles are receding, I am experiencing half as many hang nails, and my fingernails are 10x stronger than they were before (this was NOT measured scientifically). I am going to continue the TIPS products for the long term. I know my nails are not perfect like some of the ladies out there – but this was only 10 weeks and some of the results may not be visible for 6-12 months – so I’m good with what progress I have made.

I can now paint my nails again – but I’ll try to keep it to every other day and have a few days off every now and again. I will remain diligent with my TIPS application (to the cuticle only when I’m wearing polish) and filing my nails (again hard to do with polish – but I found I can at least use the part that goes on the underside of the nail.

I plan to update you all in a few months and let you know how things are going, and I’m sure you will see in the meanwhile anyway because I have SOOOOOOO many nail polishes to show off.

Ok, so here is the update!

Week 1 vs Week 10

VS

And here is a special treat… POP Tangerine Taste mattefied with Zoya Gabrielle as the accent nail!

One week until I am done and my nails are now stronger than they ever have been before. This past week I’ve been washing my hands a TON for various reasons so I don’t think I’m absorbing the Tips for Toes as much as I should since I rarely have more than 1.5 hours between hand washes, so my cuticles look a little dry – hopefully this coming week will give me more chances to apply it without being close to a hand wash.

I broke one nail (my left thumb) a couple days ago when I was fighting with my purse. It nearly won – it got my nail, but I beat it’s synthetic leather into submission. Anyway that is why my thumb nail is short. Other than that casualty I have had no breaking, cracking, or peeling. I’m super happy with the progress. Sorry again about the dry cuticles, but you can still see how great my nails are looking!

I can’t believe I’ve been doing this challenge for 8 weeks now! Oh I am going to celebrate with SO much polish in two weeks, but I will definitely keep up with the routine.

I’m seeing continued benefits and improvements from last week. I haven’t had 1 chip or peel in 2 weeks (I used to get one at least 3 times a week). My nails are so strong now and I’m confident that i’m not just going to snag them doing my day to day activities.

I am really seeing results with the strength of my nails now. I’m filing about 3-4 times a day and I carry the file with me everywhere in case I somehow snag a nail (which doesn’t really happen when you file frequently). The lower part of my cuticles are really looking better, the parts near the the top of the nail are better but not as obviously – its more that I have fewer hang nails than before.

I ordered some more Tips for Toes, I figure I’ll keep using that after the challenge is over until my nails stay strong. I also ordered some of the ASK nail polish remover which gets me even more excited to start painting again – 3 more weeks!!!! I am so anxious – spring is here. Anyway check below the break for my progress.

I got to email chat with Lisa a bit this week which ended up really helping me with this challenge. I somehow missed (there were tons of tips-no pun intended-regarding how to use TIPS and the accompanying tools – so I had to miss something I guess) that we should file using the contour file up to 5 times each day. I had only been filing once a day. She explained that your nails can lose their seal throughout the day and that is a key part of keeping your nails from chipping off.

I started filing about 3 times a day and am still using TIPS for toes about two times a day. Guess what – I actually have some whites of my nails to show. I also haven’t suffered a chip, peel, or break this week. I am confident that using TIPS for toes for the last 6 weeks had a major part in this success but then adding to it was the correct filing frequency that let my nails remain strong past the quick. I’m quite happy. I still have a ways to go with some of my cuticles – they still look ragedy but I have not picked at them since before the challenge and I am only cutting off the dead skin part of hang nails so they don’t catch and spread.

I’ve finally gotten fully well from the bug I had. I’m now half way through my challenge. It seems every Saturday I suffer a tragic set of nail breakages. This Saturday was no different. 6 of my 10 digits had nails that chipped, peeled, or sheared off so I just cut them all down and started fresh. I do think they are looking better overall but I’m still getting hang nails and my cuticle on my left hand index finger is still strange shaped, but I am resisting the urge to pick at it. I think it is helping but I’m looking forward to more improvement over the next 5 weeks.

I’ve been pretty sick for the last week and a half so I missed my week 3 post – all the posts that have been showing up (up to this one) were actually scheduled because I had a big spurt of energy two weeks ago. Anyway I’ll stay on schedule for the rest of the challenge (I hope). I think that some of my problems that I’ll be talking about are due to being sick – maybe Lisa will comment and let me know. Check out below the break for my full update!